I was recently told that it was possible to upgrade an early model tail shifter to a side shifter?? I had previously thought this was only possible by completely replacing the transmission with a side shifter.

Can anyone confirm or deny? If true, has anyone had experience with it?

thx

JR

you can turn your transmission into a sideshifter, but you'll need enough parts from a tailshifter to make it more work than it's worth.....in the end, it's easier just to swap in a good known sideshifter transmission and get the rest of the parts needed (motor mount bar, linkage, special bushing for firewall)

What advantage does the sideshifter have over the tailshifter? Strength or ... ?

the sideshifter is a little less vague and easier to find the gears when you need them....

I suspected as much. Thanks for the quick Reply Mike!

Specifically, the side-shifter has a shorter linkage with fewer moving parts and fewer places where the motion changes direction. Fewer things to go wrong, more direct path for the motion of your hand to the motion of the internal transmission parts.

--DD

Yup to all of the above. They feel about the same to me when the linkage is freshly rebuilt, all new bushings and whatnot. The tailshifter, however, has many more wear points and thus wears out faster than the side-shifter, and gets a lot sloppier once worn out.